MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



367 



No. VII.— OCCURRENCE OF THE SCAUP DUCK (NYROCA 



M ARIL A) IN OUDH. 



On Sunday 11th December last our bag contained among others a scaup 

 duck [Nyroca marila) which flying solitary fell to Captain K. L. W. Mackenzie's 

 gun. It was much damaged as a specimen, but I have sent the skin to the 

 British Museum. Oates in his book " The Game Birds of India, " Vol. II, pp. 

 337 et seq., mentions this duck as a rare winter visitor, and nearly all the few 

 records he mentions of its occurrence in India are from places considerably 

 north of this. I may mention that one specimen of the marbled duck 

 (Marmaronetta angustirostris) was obtained by Major H. A.Cooper the same day. 



O O £* & & O & 



Bince writing the above I have met the Revd. J. Gompertz, Senior Chaplain 

 of Fyzabad, an experienced and enthusiastic sportsman who has kept detailed 

 notes of his bags for some years. He tells me he has several times shot the scaup 

 duck in Oudh and elsewhere, proving that Oates' remark (The Game Birds of 

 India, Part II, p. 338) as to its being probably a commoner duck than records 

 lead us to suppose, is correct. My informant has very kindly allowed me to 

 make the following extracts from his note book relative to shooting this duck : — 



Date. 



Number. 



Locality. 



19th January 1897 

 23th January 1897 

 9th November 1898 

 30th November 1898 

 21st December 1898 

 28th December 1898 

 loth November 1899 

 29th November 1899 

 14th January 1903 

 1st December 1903 

 7th December 1904 



Parbattia, Gonda District, Oudh. 



Ditto. 

 Kadir Talao, Roorkee District. 



Ditto. 



Ditto. 



Ditto. 



Ditto. 



Ditto. 

 Raniarpur, Oudh. 

 Quaila, Wr. Akbarpur, Oudh. 

 Barabanki District, Oudh. 



F. WALL, Captain, I.M.S., C.M.Z.S. 

 Fyzabad, lith January, 1905. 



[The Scaup has been recorded as far south as Bombay, shot by Mr. J. D. 



Inverarity, vide this Journal, Vol. II, page 97. — Editors.] 



No. VIII.— LUMINOUS PLANTS. 



There are many things in nature of which the average person is ignorant. 

 It would perhaps surprise him to be told that several species of fungi are 

 luminous. Some years ago Mr. G. A. Gammie, now Professor of Botany in 

 the Poona College of Science, contributed to our columns an interesting article 

 on " Luminous fungi." Since then we have seldom come across any reference 

 to luminous plants. Close observers, for instance, have noticed that our com- 

 mon Tuberose lily {Polyanthes tuberosa), the "Gool-i-shubbo " of the natives, 

 gives off sparks on a hot evening. We have noticed these sparkling emanations 



